I love books.

I love to read.

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Louisville, Kentucky, this morning needing to get ready for a day full of workshops and trainings for academic team coaching, but I had to take some time to read before jumping into the day.

And I'm so glad I did.

One book I picked up recently at a Goodwill store in Columbus (when I was with my clown friends) is called "EPIC: The Story God is Telling and the Role That is Yours to Play," by John Eldredge.

It's a small book and I recognized the author as one I had heard of, so I decided to buy it.

When I was packing yesterday morning, I put it in my bag in case I had a little quiet time.

This morning after I read the Bible, I picked it up.

Immediately, I knew this book was going to be "just what I needed to read" as I read the quote by G.K. Chesterton at the beginning which says,

"I had always felt life first as a story and if there is a story there is a story teller."

Growing up, I always thought of life as a story.

I can remember talking with my sister after big events in life ended.  We would say, "Well, it's time to start a new chapter."

Or when something big was starting it was always, "Wonder what will happen in this chapter?"

Even though I wasn't reading during those years, God was writing.

And as I read Eldredge's first chapter, I knew that even now God is still writing in my life and in yours.

My Bible reading this morning included the story of Mary coming to the well and meeting Jesus there.

If you've read that story you know that this particular Mary had experienced some pretty rough chapters in her life, and even at this moment was living in sin with a man who wasn't her husband.

Her story was one that I am sure she was ashamed of, and meeting Jesus at the well was not the chapter she was expecting to be part of next.

Look at this picture.

It almost brings tears to my eyes when I think of how critical this moment was in Mary's story.

After this conversation she is about to have with a Man she has never met, Mary's life changes forever.

She goes from sinner to redeemed, hopeless to filled with hope, lost to found, forsaken to loved, used to cherished.......

And the path she took to get to this moment was a path she walked on nearly every single day.

I don't know about you, but I feel a kind-of excitement this morning when I remember that God is always working even when we may feel that things are mundane and hopeless.

Maybe your job is miserable.

Maybe your marriage is falling apart.

Maybe you are making really bad decisions.

Maybe you are lonely.

Maybe you are sad.

Maybe you are bored.

However you find yourself today, remember this,

Jesus longs to show up on your everyday path and transform you.

This blog post may be His way of stepping in and changing you.

A conversation with a friend today may be the very thing you need to turn your life around.

I don't know.

But I do know this, God loves you.

He created you for a purpose and He has plans for you!!!

Life is not easy.

But when we face tough times, God still has the pen in His hand and He is writing, using even the things the devil throws into our lives as ways of reaching us.

Like a movie director who sets the stage perfectly for a powerful drama to unfold, God looks at you and says, "I want this story to mean something!"

I wish I could write more, but the clock is ticking way too quickly.

I just had to take time to say this,

YOU ARE PART OF A BIGGER STORY THAN JUST THE LITTLE WORLD AROUND YOU!

And everyone you meet is part of a bigger story too!

Be thankful for all the characters in your story and ask God to show you how He is using and them to draw the world closer to the Author and Perfecter of our faith!

I love you all so much!